Prolonged Silences
by goldfish400
Summary: Going a thousand years without any form of physical affection can really tend to leave a person craving it. Moana gets that. But what she doesn't know, what she isn't aware of, is that just two years out of her best friend's company is apparently long enough to leave her craving it, too.


It's been two years since Moana's returned home to Motunui. It's been two years since her people crowded the beach, overjoyed at the sight of their future Chief returning safely, eager to hear the stories of her voyage. It's been two years since they started voyaging again, taking to the water whenever they please, tackling the waves as easy as they breathe, like this is something they've all wanted to do their entire lives, like Moana was never the sole member on her island who felt the call of the sea after all.

It's been two years since Moana left Te Fiti, and she hasn't heard from Maui since.

She gets it. He's a busy guy with a lot of catching up to do. A thousand years of isolation'll tend to do that to someone's schedule. Even she hasn't been on Motunui much since she's gotten home. As soon as the final wayfinding lessons were completed, Moana took to the water, and now it seems like she spends more time out on the ocean than she does on her beloved Motunui.

It's fine. Really, it is. They're both busy, they've both got things they need to do, and they both seem to be the stubborn type who refuses to give up until they get those things done.

But...Moana can't help but miss him sometimes. Nights on her canoe when she looks to the stars and expects to see the wings of a hawk slicing through the moonlight, or the occasional early mornings where she'd wake up at the stern of her canoe and find herself in the middle of nowhere, his arrogant bit of advice about how _wayfinders never sleep_ ringing in her head as she curses to herself, scrambling around the deck as she tries to find her way back towards Motunui. It's not often, but when she gets this way, and finds herself missing him, she can't seem to rid herself of the feeling for hours.

Moana rids of the feeling the only way she knows how. She takes to the ocean. Sometimes she goes alone, but more often than not she'll use it as an excuse to go on a voyage, and convince a number of people to take a small fleet out with her.

It's ridiculous. For some reason, when she takes a fleet out to clear her mind, she somehow ends up discovering an island or two _more_ than the amount she'd find if she were to go out for the sole purpose of discovering new lands.

Maui, she knows, would find this _hilarious._

Moana groans to herself, and scrubs her hands down her face to clear her thoughts. Once her head is clear she scrambles up the mast of her family's canoe and takes a look around at her surroundings. Nope, there's no island there, and a half-pivot around the mast has Moana meeting with the same results. Sighing quietly to herself, Moana turns the rest of the way around, part of her hoping that they somehow passed by an island a while back without realizing it, and sighs in frustration when she finds nothing on the horizon but the faintest dark smudge of the island they'd left a day ago.

She drops down lightly onto the deck, and her father is the first to notice the shift in her mood.

"Anything?" Tui asks, and Moana shakes her head, frowning.

"Nothing. I think if we don't find another island within the next week, we should turn back and go home" Moana replies, and her father regards her for a moment before he nods.

"Okay". He says eventually, and walks away to tell Sina what Moana had said to him.

Well, almost every time. This time, however, they've only been able to find one island, completely unoccupied, and they've been out on the water for nearly two weeks.

Sailing home, Moana finds, clears her head a lot easier than sailing outward. She knows these waters now like she knows the back of her hand, so she doesn't need to spend time looking out for things she could've missed last time she was out, or for new lands entirely, because she's been out on the water enough times to know every inch of the water as far out as a week and half's travel away from Motunui. If there's even one thing out of place, something that seems awkward, or new, she notices it right away.

Which is why, when her small fleet comes across Maui's old island, the most unchanging mass of land in the entire Pacific Ocean, that something seems off about it, like something about it changed since the last time she was here those two years ago, Moana finds herself scrambling to the stern of her canoe to slow it down so she can figure out what it is.

And as her canoe gets closer to the small island, Moana realizes suddenly that something about it seems...new. Like whatever change had come over the island could've happened just a few days ago, like somebody had been here _recently._ Which doesn't make sense, because as far as she's concerned Maui's the only other person besides herself to set foot on this island, and he hasn't been here since he tried to escape on the canoe he tried to steal from her.

Moana tries to brush it off as a trick of the sunlight on the waves, but then an unexpected breeze suddenly comes by and tugs her canoe's sail in the wrong direction, and Moana finds her canoe circling around the island before she has time to fix it.

And once Moana can do nothing but wait for her canoe to complete its circle around the island, she settles for staring out at it, still trying to figure out what seems so _off,_ what seems so _new_ about it.

But before Moana can even notice the new tally marks on the rocks, the new drawings of a small curly haired female carved neatly beside some of the old images of Maui she'd noticed on the boulders the last time she was here, or even the fish hook leaning neatly against the tallest boulder on the island, she spots _him,_ back turned to her as he half leans on one of the shorter boulders on the island and stares out at the horizon, apparently lost in thought.

 _Maui._

Moana follows his gaze, briefly, and realizes abruptly that he's staring off in the direction of where Motunui's spiraling peaks doubtless lies. Moana's sudden burst of laughter bubbles out of her at the thought, and she finds herself sprinting to the other end of her canoe as it slowly approaches the island still.

"Maui!" she calls to him loudly, waving her arms around in the air to catch his attention, and his arm slips down from the rock he was leaning against as he whips around to look at her.

"Moana?" Maui calls back, squinting towards her canoe, and even from where she stands on the deck Moana can see his entire face light up when he spots her.

Without letting herself think twice about it, or giving herself a chance to change her mind, Moana sprints forward and leaps off the deck, much to the sudden alarm and confusion of her parents, but in this moment Moana does not care. The ocean parts, just enough to allow her to sprint to the island shore instead of having to awkwardly swim to it, and once her feet touch the island shore Maui sprints forward to meet her halfway, scooping her up in a hug so quickly that she actually kicks up a bit of sand when her feet are swept off of the ground.

Rolling her eyes, trying desperately to fight the tears suddenly building in her eyes, Moana grins widely as she wraps her arms around his neck to hug him back just as tightly as he is her.

"I can't believe it's really you!" Moana giggles, burying her face into the crook of his neck, and around her she can feel as Maui laughs in response, adjusting his hold on her ever so slightly.

"I could say the same thing to you, Chosen One" Maui grins, and somehow manages to pull her away without letting go of her so he can get a better look at her. "How's it been? Must've been pretty busy if it kept you from visiting your favorite demigod for two years"

Moana snorts, and pulls one of her arms away to punch him in the shoulder. "Oh, hush" she says, but the bite's not really there because she _missed this._ "Don't act like you're not at fault either"

"Oh, but that, dear Curly, is where you're wrong"

Moana snorts, and Maui scoffs. "I'm serious! You really think you and your people were coming across all of those islands that seemed to just _pop up_ wherever you went by _chance_?" His grin widens. "Just because you never saw me doesn't mean I wasn't with you"

For some reason that last sentence alone makes those tears well up in her eyes again. With her free arm Moana reaches for him again, and Maui laughs again as he pulls her back into another hug.

For a long moment, neither of them move, and Moana just takes the silence between them to just _revel_ in the feeling of being with him again, because it's been too long, it's been two long years without so much as a word from him. But _this,_ this kind of silence, this kind filled with nothing but warmth and contentment, Moana can get used to, and in this moment she wouldn't be lying if she said she wouldn't mind staying like this for a long, long time.

It becomes obvious to Mona that Maui's feeling the same way, that he missed her too, because when she adjusts her arms around him to squeeze him just a little bit tighter he sinks to the ground on his knees. He reciprocates the gesture, adjusting his arms around her to pull her a little bit closer, hold her a bit tighter.

Moana rolls her eyes, and leans her head forward the slight bit to rest it against his chest, and for some reason her little gesture has Maui laughing again. He removes one of his hands from around her back to place it gently against the back of her head, holding her against him. Moana rolls her eyes, and settles into him further, a soft smile spreading its way across her lips. Sparing a glance up at him, Moana finds herself snorting in amusement as she closes her eyes in contentment.

Too late Moana remembers the canoe she'd abandoned with _her own parents_ on it. It's a few minutes later, when Moana blinks her eyes back open, does she remember what brought her canoe by his island in the first place. But Maui's still holding her just as tightly, just as closely, and he's still got that content little smile on his face.

Moana rolls her eyes, and drops her arms to her side. All she intends to do is run back to the canoe really quick to tell her parents what's going on, why she's taking so long, but when Moana tries to pull away from her hug she quickly finds that Maui doesn't seem to want to let her go.

Moana frowns. "Maui?" she asks.

"Just a little longer, Moana, please" he murmurs quietly.

"All I'm going to do is run back to my canoe to tell my parents where I am. I'll be right back" she promises, but Maui only shakes his head.

"Please" he repeats, and Moana frowns again.

"Are you okay?" she asks, sparing a glance up at him, and Maui huffs in amusement at her question.

"Couldn't be happier if I wanted to be" he replies without hesitation, and can't even manage to keep the smile out of his _voice._ "It's just…" he starts, and sighs quietly as he turns to look at their surroundings. "It's been so long, Moana" he murmurs, and spares a glance down at her. "It's been so long since I could just…" Maui trails off again. "Since I was…" he tries, but can't seem to put what he wants to say into words. He instead settles for shaking his head. "Please, Moana, let me keep holding you. It'll only be for another minute" he says, and when the puzzle pieces start putting themselves together in Moana's head she can't help but snort.

Maui, Shapeshifter, Demigod of the Wind and Sea, Hero to All, is _touch-starved._

Moana doesn't respond, not at first, and instead moves her arms to wrap them around him again. "Fine" she says, and grins up at him, amusement clear on her expression. "But only for another minute"

Maui blinks down at her for a brief moment, but then whatever indescribable emotion he's got plastered to his face melts away as he begins to laugh again. He pulls her just a bit closer to him, and lightly rubs at her back for a brief moment as he does.

"I missed you" he tells her eventually, and when Moana glances up he's got his head bowed down towards her so he can see her better. Moana snorts, and takes this as an opportunity to push herself upwards, the slightest bit, pressing her forehead against his. She closes her eyes, and can't help the smile spreading back onto her face.

"I missed you too".


End file.
